Balthazar's Storm
by Zoran Prower
Summary: 9 years into the future, Sonic and Tails's friendship has weakened. They have their fears, but none is worse than to encoutner each other once more. Yet when a terrible storm hits, they are inexorably pushed into conflict with eachother. Taismo, Sonamy
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Calm Before the Storm**

**A/N Finally! There are so many Good vs Evil stories out there, I'm getting a bit sick. So, I did a Good vs Nature, Evil vs Nature, and Good vs Evil story all in one. Hope you enjoy.**

**For this story, Everyone's age is +9. So, Sonic is 24, Cosmo is 17, Amy is 19, etcetera. Zoran, Cream, and Shadow may or not make an appearance. I don't know yet. Anyway, here is the story.**

Tails sighed as he looked outside. "_It's been raining for days _now." He thought to himself. At present he was presenting his greatest invention yet to the board. Tails was an inventor, a prodigal inventor, destined for great things. What was he showing the team of scientists now baffled many of them, and several rubbed their eyes, as if they were seeing a hallucination.

"As you can see, this car in front of you, is hovering. With the correct amount of plasma energy and gravity repulsors, along with a highly complex electric engine, I have finally created the world's first true hover car. No longer is it just science fiction my friends. It is now real!"

The head man looked at the machine skeptically. "And how fast does this machine go?" He asked him.

Tails expected this question. With all the equipment needed to keep it up, it would probably be heavy, and not go very far. But in truth, he had used the correct materials, and made it as light as possible. "It goes quite fast, my friends, as fast as 200 miles per hour."

"Don't you mean 200 miles prower?" One of the women joked, who in turned received several glares from the staff. Tails cleared his throat, and then continued.

"However it runs on electricity, and needs to be charged. Fortunately, any normal electrical outlet will do, making it quick and easy, but the battery itself is very long lasting, and won't need much recharging often, though if you wait too long, it will need several hours, so if you recharged it while you were sleeping, it should be fully charged by the morn."

The president of the company smiled. "How many more do you think you could have in three months?" he asked.

Tails smiled inwardly. Yes! The were really going to buy his invention. "I should be able to get about 4 more every month, now that I have a fully functional prototype."

The president went and shook his hand. "Son, if you can make _five_ every month, I'll pay you one hundred grand every month."

Tails smiled at him. "Deal." He'd have time to make another in a month. Or at least, he hoped he could fit it in and still spend some time with Cosmo. She didn't like it if he spent too much time at work.

He turned to his sales team. "Now we need to start advertising this things, get a lot of sales hype, as well as—." Then the lights went off.

"What's going on?" Someone asked. Tails could smell the fear in them, it was strong in the room, and strong in his heart too. When they looked outside, they saw thunder striking… over.. and over again, all around the city.

"Oh…my…"

**A/N There's chapter 1 for you! Stay tuned and see the suspense grow even more!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Teacher's Terror**

**A/N: Before we continue, I should add that the age of a 12 year old Mobian (Or anyone living there, for that matter) is equal to that of an 18 year old human. So, since Sonic is 24, his age is 30 human years. However, Mobians typically live longer than humans, varying among species. (They say the nine-tailed fox can live for hundreds of years, sometimes a thousand!) Now let's continue a few moments earlier, in another building**

"Alright class, can you please turn to page 234 in your textbooks." The students willingly obeyed. Outside, the ground was very wet and damp, and several of the students had muddy shoes on the ground.

The particular classroom they were in was Biology, and compared to many Biology classes, there was life everywhere. Plants filled the room all over the place, many of them exotic and not very easy to find. Many of the students thought that the teacher was one of the strangest people they've ever seen. But in truth, she was acting normal for her species, but Mobians never really understood foreigners that much.

"Begin reading from page 234 to 237, and then answer the questions at the end." She instructed them sweetly. "When you're done, we can begin the lab."

But before they even began reading, the power all of a sudden cut off, and the students gasped. Even the teacher stood up from her desk in surprise.

"Mrs. Prower, how are we supposed to read in the dark?" One of the students asked rather stupidly.

"You aren't supposed to read in the dark, Sarah." Mrs. Prower replied with a sigh. "Everyone stay in here, and behave yourselves, please." The students would listen to her, despite her strange ways she was very kind indeed, and it was never nice to hurt a kind teacher's heart.

Several of the other teachers had gone out of their classrooms as well, trying to figure out what the problem was. Then the Principal showed up, obviously confused as the rest of them.

"I've gotten through to the people in charge of the electrical power, and they have no idea how it shut off. They say it could be many, many hours before it comes on, perhaps even longer than that, as for it depends on whether they can find what caused the problem. Now keep the students inside the classroom until we can get busses to come and…" He stopped short. As they looked outside, they saw thunder hitting the ground again, and again, and again. "What the heck is going on here?"

One of the Science teachers shrugged their shoulders. "This… this doesn't follow the laws of science!" He cried. "I don't know anything at all." He turned to Mrs. Prower helplessly, as if she would know the answer. "What do you think, Cosmo?"

Everyone turned to look at her. She didn't like all the attention she was getting. "Maybe my husband might know." They all knew he was a genius, and a far better scientist than any of them. Cosmo was an expert at the properties of life, but not non-living things, or storms, for that matter.

She went back inside her classroom. "Students, does any one of you have a cell phone?"

"But we're not supposed to have cell phones!" Sarah cried innocently.

"Sarah, may I please use your cell phone." She asked pleasantly. The students all watched as Sarah handed Mrs. Prower her cell phone. "Thank you Sarah." She muttered something under her breath, something about physic teachers and knowing just about everything.

(Elsewhere…)

Sonic watched with his very own eyes from a distance as the city's power went off all at once. "There's no way this is a normal power outage." Sonic said to himself. "There's only one person who could have been involved… and that's Eggman!"

**A/N More suspense! Hopefully in later chapters, you'll see the occupations of the other Sonic characters. I'll try to introduce them all if possible, even my O.C. if I can find the room for him. Please Read & Review, but most importantly, stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Afternoon turmoil**

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. We were hit by a typhoon, and that means lack of electrical power. Anyway, the story shall go on now. Despite the story focusing on Sonic and Tails, at present it shall tell the present condition of every Sonic character that will be in the story. **

Tails figured the storm was calming itself, for now, anyway. Still, it baffled him that lightning could strike so many times, and in the same places over and over again. It literally broke the laws of science.

He managed to find his way despite the darkness, and the president of the company ran down to meet him. "Do you know what's going on?" He asked him.

Tails shook his head. "No, but I intend to find out. There has got to be a logical explanation for this.

The president of the company didn't agree. "It looks like the end of the world to me. I'm going home, and not coming out for a while!" Suddenly Tails cell phone rang, and the president waved goodbye, before running fearfully to his car.

He answered his cell phone, and was surprised to hear Cosmo's voice behind it. "Hey there, sweetie." He greeted her warmly. "I thought you didn't have a cell."

"Oh, I _borrowed_ one from one of my students." She replied. "Tails, is there any chance you know what's going on out there?"

"I have no idea, but I'm going home to find out right now." Tails told her. "What about you?"

"I have a staff meeting in five minutes, after it's over, I'll be heading home." Cosmo informed him. "I'll see you at home then!"

"Alright, love you." Tails put his cell phone away, and walked to his car. "_I hope she gets home safely._" He thought to himself fearfully.

(Meanwhile…)

It didn't take Sonic long to find Eggman. He had been following him ever since the "lonely days" began, always keeping an eye from him, making sure his evil never rose again. But really, there was no need to. Bad luck seemed to cling to both of them. In fact, in a single moment, two birds were killed with one stone, or in this case, exiled. Those two birds were Sonic and Eggman.

Nine years ago, on a routine adventure to save the world, Tails and Sonic were trying to get the chaos emeralds from Eggman's secret base. The rest of the gang was with him as well. Sonic was in Tails new bomber plane, made specifically to destroy the base. Unfortunately, Sonic grew too impatient, and while Tails and his friends were inside, Sonic had a sudden urge to eradicate Eggman once and for all, putting his friends in jeopardy. He got in position, warning his friends to leave immediately, as he would destroy it in exactly one minute.

Of course, Tails told him to wait, and Sonic listened at first. But remembering all the evil things Eggman did, Sonic was suddenly willing to destroy evil even if it meant putting his friends at risk. Did victory not come without loss? And thus he fired upon the building, utterly destroying. To his relief, his friends survived, and to his horror, Eggman lived, and all seven of the chaos emeralds were destroyed.

Tails felt that Sonic had betrayed him, and it was only a few days later that Sonic decided to leave. He couldn't live with his friends glaring at him, and he left, without saying goodbye to anyone. With Sonic's departure, Amy left too, trying to find him, but utterly failing. Some time after Amy left, Zoran (Not me) simply disappeared. Now with Sonic's Amy's and Zoran's departure, Cream felt rather lonely, and looked for her a while, before returning home, and never returning to the team again. Eventually Knuckles, Tails and Cosmo decided to permanently disband the team. Besides, what was the team without their mascot?

Thus for Nine years none of them had reached any contact with anyone else, everyone going their separate ways. Sonic knew this because he no longer heard stories about them, though he had heard something about Zoran doing some incredible feat. Sonic sighed at the memories. Now he had a job as a pizza delivery man, and he enjoyed it, as it was rather easy work, but his life was rather lonely without his old friends.

Sonic found Eggman was foraging around in the junkyard, just like he was doing the last time Sonic found him there. Apparently he was looking for old machine parts he could use to repair his two annoying robots, Decoe and Becoe, or at least, that is what he had been doing for the last few days. When he turned back to Sonic, he had his evil smile on his face.

"So, we met again, Sonic. I was hoping you'd just go away some day soon and never come back." Eggman stated grimly.

"Keep dreaming Eggman." Sonic replied mockingly. "One day, you just might what you deserve."

"And what do I deserve?" Eggman replied testily. "Nothing! I suffer because people say that I am evil! But what have I been able to do for nine years? Nothing, with you watching me! All my friends, my robots, are gone; I can't fix them, no matter what I try. But your friends are still around, why don't you visit them and leave me alone!" He fired his laser gun at him, and it hit Sonic's arm, causing him pain. Before Eggman could fire again, Sonic was gone. Eggman uttered a curse at him under his breath, his rage clearly seen in his old face.

Sonic raced to the hospital. Hopefully they would be able to fix his arm. It was stinging quite a bit, and it was bleeding, and the wound was too large to cover with a mere band-aid.

When he arrived at the hospital, the inhabitants seemed to have not forgotten what he did nine years ago. The events had not just affected him, but the way people looked at him. Most of the people looked at him with pity, others, with scorn, full of harshness, as if they wanted to yell at him to get out, or pick him up and throw him out of the door.

He sat down, waiting for the doctor to see him, when he heard a familiar voice. "Sonic?" The voice called. "Is that you?"

When he turned toward the source, he noticed a rosy pink looking hedgehog coming his way. Sonic was taken aback. It had been nine years, and he was quickly turned his head back, afraid, until she called his name again, running toward him.

"Sonic, it is you!" Amy cried excitedely. Then she looked at his arm worriedly. "Oh, what happened to your arm?"

Sonic sighed. "It's a long story Amy. A long story."

(Elsewhere…)

It was dusk, but the sky could not be seen. Lightning was still coming down from the sky, les and less often as the hours had gone by. A young girl was bicycling toward her home, when she was ambushed by a group of thugs.

"Nice bike." They told her, grabbing her hands and putting her against the wall. "Now hand us your money, else you're going to get it."

The girl sobbed and screamed, not even listening to them, too afraid to do anything. The thug was about to slap her, when he saw a shadow that was not his own, appearing under the bright street light. He turned around, and saw just that. Shadow.

"You're going to regret that." Shadow told them menacingly.The thugs turned around, and let go of the girl. She ran quickly toward safety. The thugs drew out their guns.

"I think you'll be the one to regret that." Shadow just smirked, until he saw twelve more thugs appear from nowhere, each armed with a gun of their own.

Shadow smiled. "Now this is a challenge."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Friendly Encounters**

**A/N: I appreciate your critiques. It helps me to see what I need to look for when I write my story, and see things that could have been better explained or described. Lastly, as you have seen, Shadow has appeared, and later, Cream and Zoran (The character, not me) will appear.  
**

Bam! The thugs guns went off. However, they severely underestimated the speed of a Shadow. It is theorized that a shadow is as fast as the speed of light, but theoretically, is it not? Though Shadow is not _that_ fast, he is still far too nimble for a mere gun. He quickly evaded the first bullet, and then knocked the first man to the ground, picked up a second, and threw it at the third. In the confusion, two more of the thugs shot each other in the arm, and they both recoiled in pain. Shadow grabbed their heads, and banged them against each other.

Shadow laughed. "Is this all you got?" He inquired them. Suddenly he felt a gun at his back. "Don't move, or I'll shoot." The thug leader told him. But then the thug's face lit with fear when it felt a cold blade on his own back.

"Don't move or I'll just have to backstab you with this sword." A voice said to the thug.

(Meanwhile…)

Amy was busy filling in Sonic on what he missed. Though the original team disbanded, she was one of the few who had been in contact with everyone. For the first time, Sonic was both afraid and curious on what Amy had to tell him about what his friends had been doing. "Knuckles is still guarding the master emerald, but he also is trying to protect the forests as well. He sometimes works with Tails to find solutions to nature problems." Sonic cringed when she said Tails. He probably still hated him for what he did.

Amy was examining his wound, mending it, and muttering a few notes to herself. "You really should be more careful, Sonic." She said empathetically, and in her voice, Sonic could hear the love in heart flow through it. Perhaps her love for him had not faded at all through the years, unlike the way his friendships had. "Anyway, Cream is a junior in college right now. She said she's coming over soon to visit, she told me she has a long brake in classes. She had a lover for a while, but he became too addicted to gambling, but I don't think that's why she's been depressed lately."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked, flinching for a moment when Amy touched the wound. She quickly withdrew, and then carefully went back to mending the wound.

"I think she misses him, but she hasn't really talked much." Sonic thought for a moment. Him? Who was him? Was it the same him Sonic had known many years ago? He knew the answer was yes, but it was so long ago…

"Rogue has joined the government as one of their top agents, and she is definitely one of the best from what I know, but trust me, her salary is more than a lot of famous people's salary." Of course. Who wouldn't expect Rogue to be a bit picky on how much she got paid. "I don't know what Shadow's been doing lately; he's like one of those night heroes, doing a thing or two to help the world, without trying to get any attention for it. And Zoran, well, he just disappeared, right after he saved the city from being blown to shreds from two atomic missles. No one quite remembers how he did it, but there are quite a lot of stories that are based of his dead." She looked up dreamily, as if she was recounting the tale in her head.

Amy now satisfied with her work, showed Sonic his wound. It wasn't bleeding now, and the cut wasn't even visible anymore. Medical technology must have really improved these days. "What about the last two?" Sonic asked her, not wanting to say Tails' name. Amy lifted an eyebrow, but answered his question anyway.

"Cosmo's a biology teacher now. Fitting, considering who she is and all. And Tails is a scientist of course, and a grand inventor at that. They got married last year, and Cosmo wants a child, but she tells me that Tails seems afraid of the aspect, but she doesn't know why. He won't really tell anyone, and he doesn't like to talk about it."

Sonic sighed. Tails probably had his reasons, but he didn't really feel like telling this to Amy. He stood up. "Thanks Amy. I've got to go now."

"But you haven't told me what you've been doing for all this time!" She replied earnestly, and Sonic sighed.

"I've just been staying clear of society. They don't need a hero anymore." He replied, and he left the hospital.

Amy watched the room, and one of the nurses, noticing his departure came toward her. "You realize who that was? Didn't he nearly kill you nine years ago?"

"I forgave him long ago." She responded to the nurse. "I love him, and that's all that matters to me."

(Back to the battle…)

One of the thugs, noticing his leader was in trouble, tried to fire at the creature with the sword aimed at his leader, but Zoran was too fast. He easily deflected it with his sword, somersaulted toward the assaulter, and knocked him out. Shadow, taking advantage of the leader's shock, turned around picked him up, and threw him at three of the thugs. Then he went toward the three and threw them against the wall.

Shadow's helper had another thug knocked out, when the last looked at them maniacally. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me." He had a grenade in his hand, and he activated it. But before he could throw it, fate had chosen him to be the target of misfortune.

Lightning came down and struck him, and he was shocked terribly, shaking in pain and surprise. The lightning did not, however, kill him, but the activated grenade, did.

Shadow turned toward his helper. He was a grey fox, which was rare for his species. In fact, Shadow hadn't seen a grey fox for…

"Long time, no see." The grey fox said. It was Zoran. Shadow remembered the first time he met him. He could be quite annoying then with his mockery. Hopefully, it had lessened since their last encounter.

"Where have you been all these years?" Shadow asked him.

"A place where I could not be found." He replied evasively.

"But why did you leave?"

"Because I don't like fame that much." Zoran replied modestly. "I hate being famous. Even now they are still telling stories about me, but they are quite far-fetched. One of them has me saving the city while carrying a cow on my back. A cow! How ridiculous can legend be?"

Shadow looked indifferent. "You haven't completely told me why you left." He said, aware that Zoran was hiding something. He was very good at it actually, but some things are very difficult to hide.

Zoran sighed. "Alright, I left to get away from her, too. I was afraid of being weakened because of it, so in order to avoid it, I left. It probably broke her heart, but it was all for the best."

Shadow, angry at his apathy, pulled him up from the shoulders. "Do you not even care?" He retorted.

Zoran sighed. "I do care. When I left, it made things only worse. I've lived in misery for nine years."

Shadow turned away. "Well, at least you're not the only one…"

(Elsewhere…)

Tails was working on his lab, retrieving as much data as he could about the storm. From what he had seen, the storm had subsided, but his data was telling a different tale.

"This is the only the beginning… of something far bigger and worse." He said, terrified of what awaited around the next bend…

**A/N Now every character but Rogue has appeared so far. The chapters seem to get longer and longer. Anyway, I Hope that she'll appear soon. Anyway, stay tune, and hope the suspense ends quickly!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Only a Theory…**

For a while, Tails was using his own power source, but the following Saturday morning, the power finally came back on. The storm subsided, but Tails knew better. His data was telling him that it was likely to return, but Tails didn't have the data to confirm it, nor the time in which it would take place.

That morning he had been able to make contact with the governor of the city, and ask for a meeting .Normally, the governor would have immediately turned away a normal citizen, but considering Tails position in the science community, he asked him to meet him at nine in his building.

When Tails arrived in the governor's office, he was standing in his chair, highly distressed. His secretary sat on his side. She gave Tails a small smile, and the governor gave him the same.

"What is your business here, fox?" The governor asked him.

"I came here to warn you. I fear the storm may return, and it will be worse than ever."

"Do you have any evidence of this?" The governor asked. Tails shook his head.

"Then why are you telling me this?" The governor retorted. "The storm may not appear for another year from what you're telling me.

Tails replied back angrily. "I don't have the data yet, but you need to evacuate everybody. I know it will return, but I don't know when it will return, or how devastating it may be."

"Well, I simply refuse to evacuate anyone from some theory of yours. Give me evidence, and you'll have your wish. Until then, don't come back!"

Tails walked out of the doors, somewhat angrily. He'd definitely regret not listening to him sooner.

He came home a bit disappointed, and as he did his research he couldn't find any signs that the storm was coming soon. Maybe he was overreacting. Perhaps it wasn't coming as soon as he thought it was. Or maybe it wasn't coming at all. He went into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich, and just stared at the ceiling, in great thought.

"Are you going to eat your food, dear?" Cosmo asked him, while she was making a sandwich of her own. She walked toward and took a chair adjacent to his.

"Yes, I'm just thinking." He replied warmly. Cosmo smiled lovingly at him, but Tails could tell there was a question on her mind.

"Well, I've been thinking too." She said, somewhat nervously. She took one of Tails' hands with her own, as if that would help. "What do you think about having children?"

Tails started to feel that feeling again. He didn't like this topic, and he didn't really want to talk about it. "Er… could we wait a little while longer?" He replied. He had his reasons, cowardly reasons, he added to himself, but they were still good. Cosmo sighed.

"Tails, I know its stressful, but there are positive and negative things about having children."

Positive and negative. Wait a minute… "Eureka!!" Tails shouted joyously. "Why didn't I think of it before? Cosmo, you're a genius!" He gave her a kiss, and then ran down to the lab joyously.

Yes… it all made sense. Examining the amounts of positive energies in the air and negative energies on the ground definitely explained why lightning struck so many times. That plus the clashing of warm and cool fronts all over… They were in for a big one.

Tails called the governor on his phone. "Governor, we have a big problem. I've got the evidence your looking for. The storm will return in exactly 36 hours and 22 minutes."

There was a pause for a moment. "Come back here right now. You'll be speaking to the general and his top agents as well."

(A few moments later…)

While Tails had gotten ready to leave to the governor, Cosmo herself decided to visit Amy at the hospital. It had been a while since she had seen her, and since the storm was coming soon, she wanted her to know that it was coming now.

The drive was short and uneventful. Cosmo could see some of the damage from the lightning earlier, but there wasn't much, saved for a destroyed sign or scorched tree.

When she arrived at the hospital, and walked inside, she quickly found Amy talking to a fellow nurse. Technically she shouldn't really be talking to her while she was working, Cosmo knew she was on her brake.

Amy smiled when she saw her. "Hey Cosmo."

"Hi Amy." She replied. She then explained to her about the storm. Amy listened attentively. "Listen, could you help me with something?" She asked, rather timidly, changing the subject.

"Is it about Tails." She asked knowingly.

Cosmo nodded. "I just can't figure out why he's afraid to have children. I can't keep the fact that I'm expecting forever from him."

Amy nodded solemnly. "Well, I really don't know… who is that? Is that Shadow, and who is the guy he's with?"

In a sense, it was a rather odd site. Shadow was touching his arm. It had been mildly burned, but the burn had affected a large area. His companion had received a rather gruesome cut on his shoulder blade. Not deep, and not large, but quite painful it seemed. Shadow turned their way, and walked toward Amy. "Do you have any first aid?" He asked her. "I don't want to see a doctor, I just want some first Aid."

"Are you sure Shadow?" Amy asked him. "A doctor could do a far better job than mere first aid." Shadow nodded his head yes. "Alright, but who is the companion you travel with. You usually travel alone, don't you."

"Yes, I do." Shadow and the grey fox replied at the same time, startling each other. His companion cleared his throat. "I am Zoran, and for some odd reason you both seem familiar to me. Just a little, I might add."

Cosmo looked at him for a moment before it clicked. Zoran was Tails cousin. Amy figured it out too, and her expression went from that of happiness, to a surprising edge of anger. "I don't get it, you saved the city, and then you just disappear. Why did you disappear?"

Zoran sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" He told her. Amy glared at him. "Alright, alright, I left because I hate fame. And for other reasons as well, but I don't want to share those right now. Sure, I may have made the city sad, broke a heart, and abandoned everyone, but it was necessary."

"Necessary?" Amy retorted incredulously. "Necessary!? Zoran, you left a place of love because of fame? Are you an idiot or something?"

Zoran smiled at that comment. "I suppose I am, but it makes no difference. Love weakens your heart. I refuse to feel it."

Amy glared at him again. "Love doesn't make you weak. It gives you hope, strength, and compassion. It makes you different; it makes you happy and sad, and makes you feel beautiful."

"I don't want to change!" Zoran yelled, and then he sighed, calming himself. "I made a bad decision; it is too late to change that." Amy handed Shadow the first aid. "Amy, tell her I'm sorry, if you ever see her again."

"Why don't you? I'm quite sure if she saw you again you'd both be a lot happier."

Zoran sighed. "Because I'm a coward, and I am too afraid of my past. Please, just do it for me."

Zoran and Shadow walked out of the hospital. Amy sighed. "Well, my brakes over now." Cosmo got up from her chair. "Good luck Cosmo. You're going to need it, if the storm is really coming as soon as you say it is."

"We all will." She replied.

(Outside the hospital…)

Shadow and Zoran had exited the hospital, when they saw Sonic standing on the hill, looking around. He turned to them, and in a second was right in front of them. "I need your help."


	6. Chapter 6

A Storm is Brewing

The governor, general, and his agents were quickly listening to Tails sharing them his data. Tails had never seen the general before. His face was that of a lion, but the strength in him was that of an elephant. Tails didn't recognize both of the agents, but he did recognize Rogue. Despite her training, Tails knew she had a hard time hiding her surprise to see him. Tails cleared his throat, and began to speak once more.

"From the natural energy attraction between the ground and air, if a storm brewed, it would destroy much. Thousands will die in the next thirty-six hours. The storm itself will be many storms, one immediately after the other, all to there most dangerous degree. We'll see blizzards, lightning, a tornado or two, an earthquake, a tsunami, and a huge tropical storm that may be far greater to be called a mere super typhoon. (Typhoonhurricane)

The people were silent. It was Rogue who first spoke up. "How much time do you think the evacuation will take?"

The governor replied solemnly. "Too long. There will be traffic jams everywhere. I can see half the city leaving; the other half will have to bear the storm." He turned to Tails. "How long will the storm last?"

Tails looked around sadly. "Governor, it will last a long, long time. Those who chose to bear the storm will have an extremely difficult time surviving. I shall remain here to help them in any way possible."

The general nodded. "What about those who evacuate? Are they safe from the storm's range?"

Tails shrugged his shoulders. "It depends how far they get in thirty six hours, and how soon they are warned."

"General, send out broadcasts immediately. I'll get the police here to notify as many people as possible. This meeting is over."

Tails got up and picked up his briefcase. As he walked out the door, he saw rogue waiting for him. "Hello there. It's been a long time, hasn't it."

"Too long, if I might add, for you. I've seen you a time or two, and your wife and some of your friends. But I haven't seen Shadow or Sonic forever."

"_Perhaps its better that way…"_ Tails thought to himself. "How have you been lately?" He asked Rogue.

"Me? Fine, actually." Rogue paused for a moment. "How many people do you think we may be able to save?"

"If we don't get those notices out soon, almost no one. The sooner, the better chance we have, but we're going to lose lives no matter what now. We just don't have enough time."

"Alright. Me and the other agents are going to monitor the storm using your data. We should be able to weather it. This building is one of the toughest around."

Tails smiled and said his goodbyes, and then left the building. They had hope, but did they have time?

(Meanwhile…)

Sonic was surprised to see that both Shadow and Zoran both had their own injuries. "What happened to you guys?"

"Well, let's just say some explosion occurred after some rather interesting incident." Zoran informed him. "That's all you need to know." Obviously Zoran didn't want to tell him everything. "But I see you have suffered some injury as well."

"Just an ordinary incident." Sonic informed him.

"If by ordinary, you mean Eggman." Shadow said. "What do you want our help for?"

"I need your help into getting into the governor's building. I've heard rumors of a new power source similar to the chaos emeralds, but greater. I'd ask Knuckles, but I can't seem to locate him, and I'd think you'd do better. I heard that they contain it in some ruby, and that its power is equivalent to that of all seven chaos emeralds. Would you like to join me?"

"Are you kidding me? Invade a government facility, in which we could get in huge trouble for?" Zoran stated incredulously. "I'm in!"

Shadow looked at Zoran and Sonic. "You guys aren't at all like heroes anymore."

Zoran shrugged his shoulders. "No, no, we're just Anti-Heroes. Good enough for me."

Shadow sighed. "I'm in. But I'd rather not get caught. There's no better time to strike than now, but we need to be careful all the way."

Sonic smiled his classic smile. "Then let's go!"

**A/N Now every character has been introduced but Cream. She'll hopefully appear soon. Stay tuned!**


	7. Chapter 7

A Very Bad Idea

Sonic observed the front entrance safely from a distance. "It's too heavily guarded to enter without getting caught."

Zoran laughed. "It shouldn't take much to get by two bored guards. Let me handle this."

The three walked up to the guards. "Hello there. I require immediate entrance requested from the governor himself. Can you tell me where his office is? I can't stand to be a single minute later." The way Zoran said it, it would have been the voice of a noble. Of course, Zoran _was_ a noble, back in his own world.

Seeing that Zoran sounded as if he was someone important they gave him a curtly nod. "Second floor, take the stairs on the left side, head straight, and take a turn." One of the guards informed him. Zoran smiled.

"Thank you very much." Zoran gave them a small tip, before continuing past the doors. Once inside, he turned to Sonic. "I'm quite sure we don't need to go to the governor's room, so where are you taking us?"

Sonic only looked ahead for the answer. "We need to go to the basement, toward their laboratory.

"Stop." Shadow ordered them, before they opened the door. He looked up. "There's a codeword that must be used to open this door, else the alarm will go off. Likely it will be in the governor's office, if we look hard enough."

"I'm on it!" Sonic said, but before they could reply he had already sped off. He came back two minutes later. "I have the codeword. It's tsarina."

Sure enough, the door immediately opened. "Well, should we go on in?" Shadow asked them.

(Meanwhile…)

Amy was packing up her things. Her work was done for the day. She walked out of the door, humming to herself. When she looked outside, she was surprised to feel how much more humid the air was. Heck, it was never this humid before. But she was even more surprised that an old friend of hers was standing by her car, waving toward her.

"Cream! It's so nice to see you!" She cried. She went and hugged her tight. Cream smiled happily.

"I'm done with my classes for this term. I was about to head back when I heard about the storm warnings, but I figured that you'd stay and weather the storm."

"Well, this is home. A storm doesn't scare me!" Amy told her cheerfully. "Would you like to ride with me to the store?"

"Sure, she replied cheerfully."

Had they gone anywhere but the storm, they wouldn't have seen the shock they were about to witness later…

(Back to Sonic, Shadow, and Zoran.)

The ruby was standing in the middle of the room. Sonic sped toward it as fast as he could, while Shadow and Zoran quickly destroyed all of the cameras they could fine, which was actually almost none, save two in the room. Sonic eagerly climbed the several stair steps to reach the pedestal that the ruby sat upon.

"Yes, I can be Super Sonic once again, and save the world. I'll be liked again!" But when Sonic removed the ruby from its place, everything, all the electrical power in the room, shut down. Surprised, Sonic dropped the ruby, but before he even realized he did, it hit the ground, and crumbled into tons of pieces.

"This is bad. Real bad." Zoran informed them. "Sonic, I think you just destroyed the city's power. We need to get out. Now!"

But before any of them could move a muscle, the door opened, and several government agents, armed with pistols and flashlights, stopped them. "Hold it right there! You aren't going anywhere… is that you, Sonic?" Rogue and the others dropped their weapons in surprise.

"It isn't what it looks like!" Sonic defended himself, but the agents weren't convinced. Rogue looked disgusted at him.

"Arrest him, and quick, before he…"

Zoran quickly stabbed his sword through a nearby electrical cable, and threw it toward them, and the agents recoiled, fearful of electrical shock. Then he saw another exit from the laboratory. "This way!" Zoran directed the other two, and they followed him.

Not even bothering with code words, Zoran burst the door open with his magic. (Zoran can use magic, as seen in the Lost Answer, he just prefers not too.)

As soon as they opened the door however, more government agents surrounded them. Sonic looked worried, he did not want to hurt anyone, Zoran looked irritated at the numbers, and Shadow looked pleased at the challenge ahead. "Chaos control!" Shadow cried, and then he charged at the agents, full with power.

Several of the agents slammed against the wall. A few fired gunshots, but none of them hit Shadow, though one did connect with Sonic's leg. He grunted in pain and knew he wouldn't be able to run very fast They were too afraid to perform well.

Zoran and Sonic hastened himself as much as possible trying to keep up with Shadow. Sonic, now injured, was as slow as Zoran. A few government robots stood in their way at the door. Sonic slammed right into them, uncaring about any damage done to the robots.

Then they toppled out of the door, and continued to run faster and faster, with agents not far behind them…

(Meanwhile…)

Amy began retelling her day to Cream. "I actually saw a lot of our old pals today. First I saw, Sonic, that really made my day, and then Cosmo came to visit me. It's not often I have friends to visit. And then Shadow and some other guy came to visit." She didn't want to tell Cream who "the other guy" was yet, and fortunately Cream didn't press her.

She sighed, planning her words carefully. Suddenly she saw Sonic running off in the distance, toward their direction. Cursing under her breath, she opened the door and yelled at him. "What the heck are you doing, Sonic?" What came as a further shock to her was that she heard sirens coming closer and closer as well. Even worse, Shadow and Zoran were following her. Cream had gotten out of the car, surprised first at seeing Sonic, shocked that Shadow was with him, and pondered her memory on who that grey fox was. When she finally realized who he was, she thought she was insane.

"Is that Zoran?" She asked incredulously. Amy nodded solemnly.

"He told me to say that he was sorry to you." Amy told him. "But all three of them better have a good explanation on what they're doing."

Sonic saw Amy and ran toward her. "Quickly, we need to use your car!" He told her. He had a wounded leg. Shadow was next to him, and Zoran was panting. None of them seemed to notice Cream.

"What the heck is going on, Sonic?" Sonic shook her head.

"The government is mad at us, that's all I'll say. Please, we'll explain everything in the car. Quickly, before they get closer."

Amy sighed, but she let the three in the backseat. Zoran, still not recognizing Cream at all, took his hand out of his pocket for her to shake. Incredulous that he hadn't recognized her, and a bit angry, she turned his back on him and got into the car. Zoran shrugged his shoulders, probably thinking that she was only angry at them for causing this mess.

She drove right past the government vehicles, toward her home. The car was silent for a while, until Zoran finally spoke up.

"Excuse me Amy, but who is your friend. She seems familiar, but I cannot place her name."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Amy told him, also surprised that Zoran hadn't placed her yet.

"Err… Ms, what is your name?

She didn't say anything for a while. Then she sighed, and politely answer his question. "My name is Cream. I thought you of all people would remember that."

Startled, Zoran did not reply, just muttered something about a bad memory. Shadow grunted in discomfort. "How long is it to your house, Amy?" He asked.

"Ten minutes. But don't get comfortable when you get inside, you have a lot of explaining to do…"

(Elsewhere…)

Tails was making a few adjustments and modifications to his satellite when the governor called. Tails had noticed the power gone out again, and had used his own power source once more. Obviously, the governor had contacted him via cell phone.

"Miles Prower, we have a problem. It seems an old friend of yours has destroyed our electrical power, and we will not be able to find a replacement strong enough for the city for at least three weeks. Worst yet, anyone who has yet to get the message that the storm is coming won't. We'll continue to warn them non-electronically of course, but I fear we will not be able to save as many lives as you hoped for."

Tails sighed. "Who is this old friend of mine you speak of? Eggman? It wouldn't be surprising if he had done something like this.

"Worse. It's that blue hedgehog."

Tails jumped. Sonic? Of all people, that would be the last thing he'd have thought of. "I'll find him governor. I'll find him, and bring him to justice!"

**A/N This chapter was pretty fun to write. It looks like Tails and Sonic have been inexorably pushed to a confrontation.**


	8. Chapter 8

§ Chapter 8: The Clock is Ticking §

Amy finally parked at her house. It was rather small and away from the livelier parts of the city. In fact, the area was quiet. Sonic got out of the car slowly. Here he was safe from the police, but certainly not from his friend's wrath, which she was probably having a hard time holding in.

Zoran, offered to stay in the car. "They won't find me if I'm hiding under the seats." He pointed out. Amy sighed, and told him to come in the house now. Zoran couldn't hide from his demons. It would just make it worse.

When they got in the house, Shadow, Sonic, and Zoran sat on the sofa, tired from their encounter. Cream refused to look at any of them, though she did flash Sonic a few looks of pity. She never really liked Shadow, and she was quite angry at Zoran right now.

Sonic sighed. "It's a long story. Basically I was trying to steal something that would help make me a better her, something that would make me become Super Sonic again. Now I'm a… a villain. The city is completely without electricity now… wait, why is this house lit."

Amy beamed. "Tails gave me an electric power generator that I could use. Quite useful, isn't it?" Sonic didn't reply.

"The Prower family does like to help people." Zoran responded, somewhat lightly

"Really?" Cream said spitefully. "I haven't heard anything about you helping anyone lately."

"Actually, I have. In my home world I helped people quite often, trying to save the world there. Didn't get much thanks in return though. Humph."

Cream was about to reply with a nasty retort when Amy cut in. "Come on guys, you can argue later. Right now, we need to sort things out."

"We?" Shadow said incredulously. "You're not even a part of this! It's the three of us who needs to sort things out here. Oh darn it all, we don't even know where to start!"

They all thought for a moment. "We could always run out of town. We have speed."

"You mean you two have speed." Zoran pointed out. "I don't run at the speed of sound, you know. And besides, there's a storm out there. We have less than a day left. Couldn't you feel the humidity outside? Did you see how much worse the winds were, how much darker the sky was?"

They nodded, rather gloomily. "So great, we're stuck in the city. But we can't hide here, can we?" Shadow asked. Everyone turned to Amy.

Amy was shocked. "Hide here? I can't hide a bunch of highly wanted people! What if they come here, looking for you? What am I supposed to do?"

Zoran laughed. "I'm great at disappearing, and I'm quite sure that you should be able to hide the other two fine."

Amy nodded. "Alright, alright, you can stay."

Cream looked exasperated. "But what about me, Amy?" Amy smiled happily at her.

"You can stay here, as my personal guest. You'll not have to hide, like the other three, whenever there's a…"

Someone knocked on the door. Shadow and Sonic quickly ran to separate closets, Cream looked somewhat worried, and Zoran just… disappeared. "He's certainly good at disappearing alright."

Amy opened the door, and standing on her porch was Tails, looking happy. He had some sort of device on his hand. "Hey there, Amy! I just came to give you this recharger for the electric power generator. It has instructions on the side, if you don't know how the recharger works."

Amy smiled. "Thank you, Tails!" Tails beamed at her.

"The storm is going to hit in 18 hours. I'd secure everything in your yard if I were you." He waved to her goodbye, and then walked to her car. Amy waited for him to be off in the distance before telling everyone they could come out. Sonic and Shadow appeared from the closets, their eyes adjusting to the light once more.

"Where's Zoran?" Amy asked, and Cream looked around. She turned to Amy. "Perhaps he disappeared again." She said bitterly.

(Meanwhile…)

Tails had driven to the governor's building, and was standing in his office, hearing the governor's report on the power. "Your electric power generator won't be enough to light the entire city, hardly any of it, really, but it is enough to keep the important buildings lit." Tails nodded.

"Governor, I think I know where Sonic and his friends are hiding… but it is only a guess. Here, I have a key…" Tails handed him Amy's spare key, which he had taken from under her doormat before he had knocked on her door.

"Good, good. Something tells me that your instincts are right, Tails."

"It is not my instincts that are think are right. I think it is my sense of smell."

(At Amy's house…)

Amy was slowly counting the time left. She had no idea what the storm would be like, but to everyone's surprise… it was snowing. Snowing right before the storm was supposed to hit. Was it a blizzard? It was too humid for snow. Was it a typhoon? It was too cold for a typhoon. Nothing made sense.

Sonic was muttering to himself about being stuck indoors. He went outside, standing next to Amy, looking at the falling snow.

"Thanks for protecting us, Amy." He told her. Amy smiled and blushed at his compliment.

"It's nothing really." She told him. "I'm just helping out friends in need." Sonic took her hand, and noticed how much warmer it seemed all of a sudden. Suddenly, he tensed, hearing a noise from the back. "They're here." He told her. Amy panicked, and ran inside, and Sonic quickly locked the door as he followed her indoors.

"Shadow, Zoran, Cream, they're here!" He yelled, and they all ran toward him, trying to figure out what was going on, when the door was smashed opened, and armed humanoid animals were pouring into the room.

Cream ran behind the couch, very, very afraid, Zoran was nowhere in sight, and Shadow, Amy, and Sonic were battling the armed men and women with all the force they could muster.

Their lasers were no match for Sonic and Shadow's speed, but they were pushing them back, and tearing down Amy's house at the same time. Seeing that blasters would fare poorly in close combat, they resorted to hand-to-hand. That proved to have better results. Or at least, 1 better.

Amy was whacking as many as she could with her hammer, but one of them managed to take it away from her and throw it out the door. Shadow was crushing them all with his chaos control, and Sonic was taking a few blows, barely able to shrug them off. In a few seconds, all but two of the agents were on the ground, knocked out. The two remaining agents ran to the couch, guns out.

When they saw Cream, they pointed their guns at her. "If you move any closer, we'll shoot!" One of them ordered her. They had there guns out. "Now, let's settle this as civilized people!"

Sonic knew that if he moved closer they would fire at her. He looked helplessly at Amy and Shadow. One of the agents, seeing that it was four against two, quickly pointed his other gun at the other three.

However, that agent had miscounted. Sure, there were only four people in the room he could see. The other one was invisible.

In a single stroke, Zoran knocked him out with a single blow. Then he picked up the other surprised agent, and threw her against the wall. No longer invisible, he offered his hand to Cream, and she gladly took it, happy that he hadn't disappeared for a second time, forgetting to be angry at him for disappearing in the first place.

"I never did forget my friends when I left." He told her. "And I did not forget them today. Heck, I never even left the room. You didn't really think I left the room, did you?"

They all laughed. In fact, every single on them did think he had left.

(Elsewhere…)

Tails looked outside, and several others had gone outside as well. The wind was getting stronger, the snow was getting heavier, the humidity was getting worse and most surprising of all, and the temperature was hardly changing. They had six hours left now, and he could already see lightning flashing in the sky.

He knew Sonic had evaded capture, and knew he hadn't tried to run. Cosmo was behind him, and she already knew what he was thinking. "Let's go together." She told him. "I do not think you will be able to handle them alone."

Tails did not argue with her statement, just merely nodded. Cosmo would support him in this, because she loved him. That strength alone might help. "He's going to face justice, and I'll make sure that happens." He had been foolish to rely on the government to defeat Sonic. He knew only he would be able to defeat Sonic. Yet he had to do this now, before the storm ironically protected him from justice's grasp.

**A/N: The Ordeal is about to come! What will happen when these two finally meet? Stay tuned!**


	9. Chapter 9

§ Chapter 9 Battle before the Storm §

**A/N: Get your popcorn ready. There is some good old excitement in this scene…**

(At Amy's house…)

Sonic had not dared to poke his head out of the house again. They could still be watching the house, waiting to get a good shot at him. Amy peered out of the window and told him that nobody was watching, but he feared that she could have been wrong.

Zoran, meanwhile, was sitting on the couch when Cream went to sit by him. She turned to look at him. "You saved my life… again." Zoran laughed.

"You should take better care of it. If you're not careful you'll lose it." Then he looked solemn again. "I'm sorry, Cream, for my past actions. I was being foolish. Now I've seen my mistake, and I want to make things right between us."

Cream smiled at him and took his hand. "You've already have. You've proven that you're not afraid of being the hero again. Zoran smiled, but then frowned as he heard a knock on the door."

Amy fearfully peered through the hole. "Well?" Shadow asked impatiently. "Who is it?"

"It's Knuckles… and Rogue. Sonic, Rogue is…"

"With the government. I know." Sonic told her. "Still, if it is just them, we stand a chance."

Amy grabbed her hammer. "Just in case I need to teach that woman a thing or two." She told the others, smiling at them.

She bravely opened the door, with Knuckles and Rogue glaring at them. "If Sonic's really here he's going down!" Knuckles yelled angrily.

Amy laughed. "Knuckles, there are five of us here. You stand little chance."

Knuckles seemed indifferent from the information. "Let's take this outside then, unless your afraid of the wind!" Knuckles taunted them.

Sonic and Shadow were already outside, obviously not afraid of a trap. "What are you waiting for, Knucklehead!" Sonic told him, and Knuckles charged at him in fury.

"Stop!" A voice cried from above. Sonic looked for the source. "This is not your fight, Knuckles."

Tails flew down from Amy's roof, and Cosmo floated down as well. Tails stared darkly at Sonic. They walked towards each other, slowly, very slowly. It was like watching two forces marching with dark intents toward each other.

Sonic, had a blaster behind his back, and he was quite certain Tails did too. "You destroyed the team, even though you did not kill us." Tails stated to him

"I didn't mean to, and now I regret it."

"You didn't regret it before."

"That was the past."

"Then why didn't you listen when I told you?" Tails asked him angrily, and then Sonic replied quickly, without thinking.

"A hero doesn't listen to their sidekick; it's the opposite way round."

"Well, if you think that's true, then I'm glad I'm not your sidekick anymore."

Tails and Sonic turned around at the same time, taking several steps away from each other. And then, the action began.

Tails was the first to fire, and Sonic easily dodged his shot. Fortunately, Amy and the other onlookers were safe from the firing range, for now, anyway.

However, Sonic had no idea how to use the blaster well, and his shots were going everywhere. Tails managed to get a shot on his arm, and Sonic grimaced at the burning pain, but he shrugged it off. As Tails continued firing, Sonic dove behind a car, and fired back at him.

Shadow watched the blaster battle disapprovingly. Zoran turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised. "You think one of them is going to win?" Shadow laughed.

"Tails doesn't stand a chance."

"You really think so?" Zoran said mockingly. "I doubt your right, seeing how you rarely are. I think Sonic's going to lose this one." And to the surprise of everybody, Zoran and Shadow started to duel each other, hand-to-hand combat.

"Zoran! Shadow! Sonic! Tails! Will you all stop fighting?" Rogue said.

Knuckles looked at them all disapprovingly. "I never liked any of them anyway. If one of them kills the other, then it is one less person I have to dislike."

Rogue looked at Knuckles incredulously. "Well, that's a terrible thing to think. Why don't you join the battle then and die, so I can get your Master Emerald."

One should know that it is very easy to start fighting when you see a bunch of fighting going on. Thus Knuckles and Rogue started dueling each other as well.

Cosmo sighed, and looked at the sky. "We've only got three hours left. I can tell." She told Amy and Cream."

"Well, they aren't making good use of the time." Amy noticed, rather miserably. It was very cold outside.

Running out of energy charges, Sonic and Tails started to charge at each other, much to Tails disadvantage. Nine years made him much stronger, but Sonic was still the faster one. Sonic was deflecting his punches as easy as if it was merely jumping rope.

"Can't you hit any better?" Tails faked a punch to his left, and then punch Sonic squarely in the face. "Okay, maybe you can."

Hey, when you can't kill, you just have to beat each other up. Zoran and Shadow were circling each other. Zoran was constantly disappearing and appearing at will. As soon as he disappeared Shadow punched him. "Got you!" Then Zoran, using a nifty spell, made him fall down to the ground. "You and your magic!"

"Did the wind get you?" Zoran taunted him.

Sonic picked up his blaster again, and started firing once more, and so did Tails. (They automatically recharge in a few minutes.)

"Can't you shoot at all with that thing?" Tails taunted him. Thinking he could outsmart Tails, Sonic fired, thinking he would hit him. And he did hit somebody, just not him. When Sonic fired, the shot hit Tails' wife right above her heart. She fell to the ground, pain stricken. Obviously Sonic was a very, very unlucky hedgehog that day.

Seeing what Sonic had done, Tails tackled the shocked Sonic to the ground. "You! You ruined my life again!"

"Ow! Ow! Stop hitting me already! It's not my fault I can't aim!" Tails picked him up from his collar, and then out of his rage, threw him against the wall, and started beating him up more.

He'd probably would have knocked him out of cold, hadn't Shadow and Zoran discontinued fighting and pull him away. "Amy's a doctor; she will take care of her."

The others had already gone inside, as Zoran dragged his cousin into the house. Shadow looked at Sonic. "It really sucks to be you at this moment, doesn't it?"

"Oh, shut up. I'm miserable as it is now." Shadow let him be, and Sonic, humiliated, stood out in the snow, and stared at the sky, already showing signs of imminent danger, danger that would be give them worse terror than he already felt now…

**A/N: Slightly shorter than the last chapter, but still good. Please give me your take on this! It was a bit humorous, don't you think?**


	10. Chapter 10

§ This is only the beginning §

**A/N Thanks for your reviews everybody. They really do help make this story better. Special thanks to all the reviewers who have stuck with this chapter by chapter!**

**Funny, I just realized I kept misspelling Rouge's name, and spelled it Rogue. Even more interesting, Rouge means red in French. Interesting… I hope I don't misspell the name again. Anyway, the story continues…**

When Sonic went inside, he noticed a few people weren't there. When he asked Cream, she informed him of who left. "Amy took Tails and Cosmo home. Hopefully they can make her better." She looked pityingly at Sonic. Zoran, too, couldn't help but give Sonic a look of remorse.

"Well, the only thing I seem to cause is pain." He turned to Zoran. "How much longer until the storm hits?"

Zoran shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? You were out there for a while, no one's even kept track. Rouge would probably know, but she's already left. Knuckles and Shadow are still here, though."

Sonic shook his head. "They wouldn't know. Couldn't you use your magic or something and figure it out. Or could you at least guess?"

Zoran was silent for a moment, closing his eyes. Cream and Sonic waited for his answer, patiently. Then he snapped his eyes open, wildly. He turned to the two of them. "Get the house as warm as possible. The storm has begun."

The drive home was more painful to Tails than any other. Fortunately, Cosmo was breathing fine, and her heart was still going. "She'll be fine, Tails. I just know it." Tails did not look up at her; he only kept staring at her closed eyes.

When they finally arrived, they took her out of the car, and laid her on Tails' couch. "The shot did hit good." Amy noted. She turned to Tails. "She should recover. But it's not her I'm really worried about."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked her, curiously.

Amy sighed. "You're not going to like what I have to say. Especially, now, of all times."

"I hardly think the storm will make a difference." Tails replied with indifference.

"Perhaps it may, at least, until she regains conscious." Amy noted. "Tails, I fear for her unborn child. I know she didn't tell you about it, but…"

Tails cut her off, and smiled. "You didn't really think that either of you could keep such a secret from me." Amy looked up at him, surprised that he wasn't angry, even more surprised that he had known, But then again, he was a genius.

Amy nodded. "We need to keep her very warm, but don't you worry about that." She comforted him. "You should just worry about the storm and keeping this house and mine operational."

Tails agreed with Amy's wisdom, and he went down to the lab. "The real question is…" He said to himself. "How long will this storm last?"

(Elsewhere…)

When Rouge left, she did not go straight to headquarters. Something else caught her eye first. There was a person standing on top of a skyscraper, looking up at the deadly storm. Of all things, none could be more foolish than that.

Rouge flew to the top of the building, and called out to the person. "Hey! What are you doing up there! Don't you know there's a storm brewing?"

At the sound of her voice, the person turned. She looked like some cat, a lioness. Rouge was surprised when she turned away from her, and saw the lioness put her hands up to the sky. "I know the storm is brewing." The lioness told her. "That storm, is now my storm."

She had a sinister smile on her face, and Rouge instinctively backed a few steps. "Who are you, and what is your purpose here?" Rouge asked her, quite knowing that she wasn't in the best position to be asking questions.

The lioness laughed. "I am controlling the storm, a first for any being. Is Nature not uncontrollable? Is that not the dream that we dream? Or is it merely power that we dream of? As for my name, my name is Bathalzar!"

At that moment, a lightning bolt came from the sky, and missed Rouge by an inch. Rouge, not wanting to let the mad lioness get another chance to strike, charged right at the lioness, but the lioness was far too quick. The lioness swerved away from her, then she grabbed her from her collar, banged her fist on her wings, and threw her down the building. The lioness was clever, and her laugh seemed dark and cold when she watched Rouge plummet down.

Rouge silently fell down, thinking of any alternate way to escape death. The lioness had damaged her wings too badly. Perhaps if she could land just right…

But it mattered not. She plummeted to the ground, but fortunately, the fall was less gruesome, as for she managed to grab the top of a pool before she was forced to let go and slam on the ground.

**A/N: I know. You hate the way I ended this chapter. But hey, It's suspenseful! You'll have to stay tuned for it to end!**


	11. Chapter 11

§ Is there no end? §

The data on Tails computer was astonishing! In the last few minutes, the storm's power had been completely directed at one place. It was completely unnatural, against the laws of science! Yet because of that, Tails knew that whatever building that the storm was near was likely damaged. Or perhaps his CPU was damaged and giving incorrect information, but he highly doubted that.

Tails could completely hear the thunder and lightning outside. Tails welcomed the disturbance. For as long as he was occupied on the storm, and not her, everything would be fine…

Zoran, Sonic, Cream, and Shadow were all sitting around the fire. Sonic was already bored. "Isn't there anything to do in this house?" He groaned.

"Not unless you like to cook and try out new clothes." Cream stated.

"No thanks." Sonic told her.

Zoran was staring outside the window for the last two hours. Cream was getting slightly irritated by this. "Can't you look at something else all day?" She asked him.

"I could." He said, without turning his head. Then he took on a serious tone. "The storm's getting worse out there. I can just feel it. The people out there are perhaps in more danger than we are."

Lightning came down and struck the branch of the tree in the backyard. The branch fell down, and the four watched it fall to the ground.

"I hope we don't plan to go outside anytime soon." Shadow said.

This is when Sonic had an idea. "I just figured out a way I could restore my status as a hero! The people out there, we can help them! We have several power generators in here, far more than we need!"

Shadow laughed. "You've lost your mind. I can't believe it. Playing hero when it's a death field out there."

"I'm serious! This could be the perfect moment for me to redeem myself! Shadow this is what heroes do, they risk their lives! I don't know what Anti-Heroes do, but I'm going out there!"

Shadow was silent, and Sonic continued. "I may be a great pizza deliverer, but I'm a far better hero."

Zoran piped up. "I'd like to come along to, if you don't mind." Zoran always loved a good adventure, but Sonic shook his head.

"No, I'd like you to stay here, and watch the house for Amy."

"Ah, Cream can do that." Zoran pointed out.

"If the government comes again, they'll have someone to answer to." Sonic replied, and Zoran smiled. Then he turned to Shadow. "Do you want to come, Shadow?"

"No."

"Fine, stay here and listen to Zoran and Cream play "catch up." (This caused Shadow to look sickingly at Cream and Zoran, who were already caressing each other. Love really can persevere for nine years.)

"On second thought, I think I'll come along for the ride."

(A few minutes later…)

Sonic and Shadow were running in the wet, cold streets. Lightning continuously struck, and Sonic began to fear it, thought his fear did not match that of Tails, who plain hated lightning. Lightning was FAR faster than him. The thought of Tails made him guilty again. He hoped Cosmo was okay…

"Hey, guys!" They heard a voice cry. It was Knuckles. To the horror of Sonic and Shadow, he was holding Rouge's body, and there were tears in his eyes. They ran toward him, and they were by his side almost instantly.

"Knuckles, what happened?"

Knuckles wiped the tears from his face. Normally he wouldn't cry over such a thing, but of course, Rouge looked dead, but Sonic did not want to confirm her fate.

"She fell. Some one threw her off. I caught a glimpse of her face. I'm going to go up there and get my revenge."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked him.

"There was some lioness. She was just staring up at the storm. Sonic, look at the sky. It's like a maelstrom, but instead of being in the sea, it is in the sky. It wasn't like that a few minutes ago…"

"Shadow, Knuckles, go to Tails house. I've got business to take care of." And with that remark, he sped up to the top of the building, ready to take on the person who had attempted (but did she succeed?) to kill Rouge…

(At Tails house…)

Tails was in his lab when Knuckles and Shadow charged through the door, carrying Rouge with them. "Tails, Amy, Rouge… I don't know what to think!"

Tails, overhearing them call his name, quickly ran up to the room. Amy was checking Rouge's pulse. She looked solemnly at Knuckles. "I don't know how she's alive, but she's in a really bad condition. Broken ribs, a broken arm, broken wings… if we were in a hospital, I could do something to help here…"

"Then let's go to the hospital!" Knuckles cried. "I'll drive there! Bring Cosmo with you, you can take better care of her there, as well."

"Where are the others?" Tails asked him.

"Zoran and Cream are still at Amy's house." Shadow told him.

"What?!" Amy cried. "You left them alone? Now either they're arguing, or they're rolling around all over my couch! Shadow, you should have stayed behind!"

"NO WAY!" Shadow cried. "I'm not going to baby-sit two lovers."

"Where's Sonic?" Amy asked, and Tails felt a surge of rage, and regret, which was stronger…

"He went to fight the creature that nearly killed Rouge. I hope he wins… Hey, where did Tails go?"

Tails had already rushed out the door. When they got out of the house, he was out of sight.

(Meanwhile…)

Bathalzar was laughing sinisterly. "I have control, so much control now… so much power." She did not see that Sonic was close by, getting ready to tackle her. Then he charged right at her, and knocked her down to the ground.

She quickly reacted, and threw him away from her. "You fool! If I lose control over the storm, we are all dead!"

Sonic aimed a punch right at her face, only to receive a huge force of rain blast him to the ground, nearly making him topple off the building.

"_I've got to be more careful…"_ He thought to himself, as a lightning bolt just missed him. Fortunately, Bathalzar had a knack of missing with lightning…

"Prepare to meet your death, hedgehog!" Bathalzar cried. Yet all of a sudden, Sonic could hear a familiar sound, and the sound of a hard punch to the head. Tails had come to his aid. Sonic thought that he was more likely to die than to have Sonic join his side. Obviously he was wrong.

Bathalzar grunted in pain as Tails flew toward him. "I'm sorry, Tails, for my mistakes." He apologized.

"Well, there's no time for apologies, but I forgive you, buddy." Tails smiled. "A sidekick can't leave his hero to get all the glory."

Tails handed Sonic a blaster, as Bathalzar screamed in fury. "NO! Do you realize what you've done! I've lost control of the storm."

"You cannot control Mother Nature, not for long. That is a law of science they ought to have." Tails told her.

Perhaps it was his remark that set it off. Bathalzar had a surge of rage. She attempted to regain control for one last moment, for one last, devastating attack. She aimed it at Sonic, but as I said before, she was quite unlucky with her aim of lightning.

The lightning did not hit Sonic, it hit Tails.

Tails was screaming in pain, and when the electricity subsided, he fell down, to the ground. Sonic looked toward Bathalzar, intent on killing her, but she had disappeared. He quickly ran down to the building, and caught him before he touched the ground, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Tails… was dead.

**The End…**

…**. Of Chapter 11…**

**A/N: There are still a few more chapters to go, and there will be a sequel. Goss, devastating ending. Am I intent on hurting everyone?**


	12. Chapter 12

**The Storm begins to expire…**

**A/N: This story has a little bit of everything, does it not? Adventure, Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Tragedy, Supernatural, Drama, action, but I guess it doesn't really have Horror. **

**I'd really like to take the time to thank my reviewers by name, beginning with: **

Cream and Zoran were indeed "catching up". (I do not think I need to dawdle on what I mean by this.) They were about to lock lips once more, when Zoran, suddenly startled, got up, and looked out the window. Cream, followed him. "Zoran, what's wrong?" She asked him.

Zoran Prower looked grimly at Cream. "I just felt as if I had fallen down a ten story building. Something's not right. I can feel it."

Cream, understanding where he wanted to go, took his hand. "Let me come with you."

Zoran smiled. "I knew you were going to say that.

(Back to Sonic…)

Lightning was Tails' greatest fear, but Sonic never thought it would be end of him. He carried Tails all the way to the hospital. He did not know which room Amy was in, but surprisingly, he saw Shadow at the door.

Shadow hardly believed Shadow was alive. He believed even less that Tails was dead. Before he could ask Sonic this, Sonic asked him something first. "Where's Amy? Shadow, quickly, tell me where Amy is!"

"She's on the second floor, room 219. Sonic, is he…" Sonic did not let him finish.

"He's not dead while there is still hope." Either Sonic was mad, or he himself would not yet believe Tails was dead.

In a few seconds, he found himself in front of the room Shadow told him. In another second, he was inside. Amy looked up from what she was doing, and stared at Sonic and Tails' body.

"Amy, can't you do something to help him? Come on, try to revive him!" Sonic was desperate. Amy felt his pulse, looked for a beat, looked desperately for a sign that he was breathing. There was none. Amy looked up at Sonic, and he understood the message in them. Not wanting to let her see him cry, he ran far from the room.

"It's all my fault!" Sonic yelled at himself. "I should have never let him come; I should have made go home! Some hero I am! Every time I have a chance to redeem my fame, I completely messed it up!"

He banged his fist on the wall, but that didn't help. Nothing helped. He sat down on a chair, his head down, for an hour. The rest of the city was probably in turmoil. He had sought to protect it, and he had failed to do that, too.

(Back in room 219)

Amy had gently laid Tails body in room 220, and closed the door, before returning to her work. Who was the patient in room 219? Rouge.

Amy had heavily bandaged her wings, her arms, one of the arms was completely mechanical, and it was too badly damaged to repair. She had broken a few ribs, but to Amy's utmost disbelief, she managed to survive.

As for Cosmo, she had finally recovered, and was sleeping peacefully in room 218, likely to awaken in a few minutes. When she awakened, Amy knew that she would have to tell Cosmo what happened, but to wake her now would be too soon, and it could make her condition worse. (Sadness can do that, just as happiness can speed recovery.) Perhaps it would be best if Sonic told her. After all, he was there when everything happened.

Amy looked outside, and saw the storm weakening. It would likely be over in a day. When she turned away from the window, she saw Zoran and Cream, both standing near the doorway.

"We know what happened. I…I felt it. If Sonic's responsible for this, he's going down!" Zoran stated, and there was fury in his face.

"It wasn't me." Sonic said, from behind him, and Zoran turned at him, surprised, but still enraged. "It was Bathalzar. When I find her… I don't know what I'll do, but I'll likely not hesitate to kill. And if I die doing so, it will be worth it."

"Oh, don't say such things, Sonic!" Amy cried, and she went to squeeze him tight.

Zoran nodded his head. "I'm coming with you. I couldn't help but notice Eggman wandering the streets. Perhaps he knows where she is. After all, he probably has cameras all over the city, as loony as he is."

Cream and Amy looked at them as if they were about to kill themselves. "Are you guys mad! Stay where it's safe! The storm's still going for another day. At least wait that long."

"No! I shall avenge him, or I shall die, today!" Sonic rushed out of the room. Cream turned to Zoran.

"Oh, Zoran, you better not do the same thing, or I'll…" But Zoran had already turned invisible, and gone after Sonic.

Amy started crying. "All this suffering, will it end?" Cream couldn't answer that.

(Nearby…)

It just so happened that while Sonic and Zoran are searching for Eggman to get answers, Eggman was searching for them. Eggman saw Sonic and Zoran leave the hospital, and he looked inside the hospital windows, eventually seeing Amy and Cream.

"Why does no one keep me informed on what's going on out here?" He said to himself.

"Probably because you aren't around for the action." A voice replied, and Eggman looked up on the roof, where the sound was coming from. A lioness sat on it, looking down at him.

"Who are you, friend or foe?" Eggman stated to her.

"I am Bathalzar, and I am a friend. I have a plan, and I need your help to execute it."

"Hmm. What's in it for me?" Eggman asked her. Bathalzar smiled sinisterly.

"You? You'll get to kill Sonic…"

(Nearby… again….)

Some one else, something more divine, was watching them, a fury in their eyes. This thing that was watching them was not dead, but more than living. This person was the mother of nature. This person was Mother Nature. She watched Bathalzar and Eggman scheme, and she began to plot a scheme of her own, to get revenge on Bathalzar… Besides, the goddess didn't want Bathalzar really thinking he could control nature. Only she could…

**A/N: Not the greatest introduction on Mother Nature, but in the final chapters, you will learn a bit more about her. But there's not really much to explain on a deity. I foreshadow to thee now, there shall be one more death, one more…**


	13. Chapter 13

… **But only to get worse…**

**A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, beginning with Shadesoflightanddark (Yes, I forgot to thank you guys last time, so I'm doing it now.) ****The All Real Numbers Symbol, Sonicliveson, Woopsire, Feathersofmemory, and Miles the Cyfox.**

**Extra thanks to my first reviewer, of course. You guys keep this story going strong!**

"Why those... those… darn, I can't think of a good word to insult them!" Amy cried.

"Gammorean pigs!" Cream finished for her. Amy looked at her in disbelief and with a smile.

"Good one, Cream." Amy complimented her. The door opened. It was Cosmo. She looked as if she had been asleep for a thousand years. "Amy, where am I? What's going on?" She asked her.

Amy began to explain. "Well, Rouge is in serious injury here, I'm just keeping an eye on her. One of her arm's been mechanized, there's no way I could have kept her alive any other way. And we're in the hospital."

"But what happened to me?" Cosmo asked, the very question Amy didn't really tell her the answer, but not as much as the second question she asked. "And where's Tails?"

Amy turned to Cream, and Cream gave her a helpless look. "Amy, did you hear me?" Cosmo asked her.

Alas, Cosmo did not get a chance to get a response. The window broke, and before Amy could react, there were all sorts of robots surrounding them in the room Outside the window, Eggman was laughing one of his evil laughs.

"I'll get you, Eggman!" Amy cried, looking for her hammer. But the robots grabbed the three of them before they could do any harm.

"Ahahahaha!" Eggman laughed at them. "You shouldn't have messed with me all those years ago! Now, my ultimate plan shall take place, and before the day ends, Sonic will be dead!"

Amy shouted a few curses at him, but Eggman only laughed some more. Cream turned to Amy. "If Eggman's here, where are Sonic and Zoran?" She asked her. Amy shook her head. Cosmo was screaming in fear. Why not? She, after all, had just recovered. Now she was going back into a terrible situation. This time, it wasn't a battle against them.

Amy could not answer her question, nor the question on where they were being taken to. At least Eggman had not noticed Rouge in the bed. But Amy was far more worried at Sonic. If Bathalzar had killed Tails, what more of a chance could Sonic have, even if he was super fast?

(Elsewhere…)

Mother Nature and her recently summoned servant were watching Balthazar's plan unhatch. Mother Nature looked upon it with disgust. "You'd think she'd be cleverer than that." She turned to her servant. "Now it is time to begin our own plans. You have helped me much in the past, my servant, and that is why I call you to do this task."

"You've called me at quite an awkward time, Mother." Her servant muttered, but smiled at her, nonetheless. Mother Nature was often called by that, rather than her full title.

Mother Nature then took upon a serious look. "Bathalzar will likely try to seize control of nature again. I cannot allow her to try; she has already done enough chaos as it is. Her lightning bolts have killed many people. You already know this though." Her servant nodded.

"What are we going to do, Mother?" Her servant asked her. "Bathalzar cannot control the storm, you said yourself that it is impossible to control nature."

Mother Nature nodded. "It is, or at least the way she is doing it. But it is not impossible to try. However, every time she tries, she creates more and more disorder in the storm. It lasts longer; it becomes more destructive, worse than it should. Yet there is one way to fix this." Mother Nature opened her hand to her servant. There were seven jewels in this.

"These are Diamonds of Order. They are the only things that allow one to control almost anything. They were created long ago by one who wanted to protect nature, who eventually became a servant of mine. I helped him create them. They allow the user to manipulate nature, and one could use that for good or evil. Fortunately, my servant was a very benevolent man. When he died, they came into my possession. They are too powerful to give to a normal person, who would use them selfishly, but you are wise enough to know their power well."

Her servant stared at them. "So I must use these to defeat him?"

Mother Nature shook her head. "Not really. I want you to scare her with them. Fear often brings defeat. When she witnesses nature's power, she will cower and flee. She may not be afraid of a mere storm, but she will be afraid when the possibility of death stares her in the eye." Mother Nature had a cold glare in her eye.

"Shall I execute the plan now?" Her servant asked. Mother Nature smiled at him.

"Wait. If the hedgehog and the fox need aid, then you shall intervene immediately. Bathalzar will not kill another innocent man or woman this day!" Mother Nature spoke with so much passion her servant stared up at her with awe.

But Mother Nature herself was wrong. A death would take place soon… though nothing is written in the stars…

(Meanwhile…)

Sonic and Zoran had been following a false trail. For the last hour, they had followed what appeared to be Bathalzar's trail, but the storm delayed them time to further follow her.

"Come on, Zoran, can't your magic abilities do something about this storm?" Sonic groaned.

"What about your speed? By now you could surely get to her." Zoran replied.

"The storm would blow me away if I went that fast." Sonic countered.

They were looking for Bathalzar for another hour. In the end of that hour, it was Bathalzar that saw them first.

She was standing in the city park, watching them, with a sinister smile on her face. But before either of them could charge at her, they saw their friends, stuck inside some cage. Worse yet, they were guarded by robots, who had their guns aimed at them as soon as they appeared.

Bathalzar walked toward them, confidently. "Looking for someone?" She asked them.

Sonic could take no more. "You'll pay for what you did!" He charged straight at her, but Bathalzar was highly dexterious. She grabbed him right when he charged, and threw him against a tree.

Zoran, tried stealth, but Bathalzar saw him. Her robots began to fire, and one laser shot cut into his leg. He fell, not unconscious, but highly vulnerable. He quickly turned invisible to further avoid harm. Then, after a quick moment, he attempted to attack Bathalzar from behind.

As soon as he grabbed her, she threw him upon another tree.

They rubbed their heads and glanced at one another. "Sonic, you can do it!" Amy shouted toward them, before being muffled by the guards. Eggman laughed at her, patiently waiting for his moment of retribution.

Sonic turned toward Bathalzar confidently. "This is going to be one fun fight!"

**A/N: Yep, this is chapter 13. There will be three more chapters, but the death that is about to take place will not take place in the last chapter. It will take place in the next one. Stay tuned!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Death steals and takes, Life loves and gives**

**A/N: It's getting harder and harder to update. First of all, my computer turns on and off, by itself, and constantly, as if magically. (Some Dark Wizard must have jinxed it, but I figured out the problem.) Second of all, I'm taking a college credit class (AP Music Theory, to be precise. Quite a challenging class.) in high school, meaning a lot of work. (Then again, I took high school credit classes in middle-school. And I am a genius…)**

**Lastly, I'm putting a lot of time and effort revising my fantasy novel. (It's about ten times better than my fan-fiction stories, mostly because I spend about two weeks on each chapter, which are about seven pages each. I only spend an hour on each chapter of this story. Funny, eh? Anyway, if any updates take a long time, it is because of this three reasons.**

**Thanks for your reviews, and let the story continue!**

Sonic and Zoran looked to Bathalzar. "So, Bathalzar, you really should surrender." The lioness laughed.

"Bathalzar you call me? No, I am now Balthazar. I have just renamed myself after a demon."

"Well, now we know you're not going to heaven." Zoran mocked her. The lioness gave him a cold look. "And you should have made a better change in your name. I mean, all you did was change the position of the l."

"It is not for no reason that I did this!" Balthazar shouted at them. "My father told me to not name myself as thus until I have made myself worthy. Now, being able to conquer nature itself, I think I have." She smiled sinisterly. "As for surrendering, I think it is you who should surrender." She smiled even more evilly. "After all, I was just planning to kill that annoying pink hedgehog and her rabbit friend. Isn't Amy the only love you have left now Sonic?"

Sonic was ready to punch the lioness square in the face. But Zoran was faster. Nevertheless, she was ready, and before Zoran could defend himself she threw him toward the steel on Cream's cage. Cream screamed as she saw Zoran collapse to the ground, blood all over his face.

Balthazar laughed at his folly, but she did not see Sonic in time to prevent his attack. Sonic rammed her from behind, sending her flying. She just barely managed to land on her feet.

She smiled sinisterly at Sonic again. "You have proven yourself to be quite an opponent." She said to him. "If you bow to me, I will make you my second in command. You will control much, and live splendidly. What do you say?"

Sonic was quiet. "What about my friends?" Balthazar laughed.

"Your friends?" She said. "All of your friends will be free, except for the last Prower. The family-line must end. It is not worthy of living, you see?"

Cream shouted, "Don't listen to her, Sonic."

Shadow, (Whose capture he intentionally did not want the author to relate.) stood in his cage. He had a nasty gash on his head. He had been listening intently to Balthazar's words. "She is not lying, Sonic. Her deal is a true one. I'd agree to it. Got nothing to lose, really."

Amy was shaking her head no, Knuckles was too busy hitting the metal on the cage to even listen.

Zoran looked at all of them, and laughed. "I see. Either I die as soon as Sonic bows, or I die a mere minute after. Balthazar, you're going to kill me no matter what happens. But, please, tell me why you want me to die. The reason's person, is it not?"

Balthazar gave him a horrible look. "You don't understand, do you? When I found out I had killed Miles, I was eccentric. But I found out it was not the primary Prower I was looking for. I was searching for you. It was YOU who stopped me from destroying this pathetic city years ago. Now, this storm shall finish my work."

She turned to Sonic. "Have you made a decision?"

Sonic did nothing, said nothing. What was there to say? I surrender? He had never done it. But he'd only lose one friend if he did. If he didn't he'd lose them all. Cosmo looked at him, knowing what decision he would make. Sonic, knew, too, what choice he must make.

"I never give up, Balthazar. You should know better than that!" Sonic shouted.

Balthazar and Eggman looked surprised. Then Eggman's face grew into a sinister grin. "Then it's about time I killed you!" Eggman cried. Without warning, he fired several missiles at him from his machine

Sonic quickly ran out of harm's way. "You've never defeated me, Eggman, and never will!"

In a moment, Eggman noticed that Sonic had torn apart his entire machine he was in. "Darn super fast hedgehog," he cried. Balthazar had not interfered. She let Eggman have his chance at retribution.

Eggman, unarmed, and feeling useless, turned to Balthazar. "What are we going to do? Sonic is too strong for us. I've never been able to win against him. What makes you think you will?"

Before Eggman could continue, Balthazar grabbed a blaster pistol from her side and shot Eggman. He was dead before he hit the ground. She turned her blaster at Sonic, and quickly fired at him. The first shot missed, but the second hit deep into his arm and leg.

Sonic cried out in pain, and Balthazar walked toward him, aiming her pistol at his heart. But instead of firing at him, she picked him up, and threw him against a tree. Sonic did not have to check his ears twice to know if he heard a crack. His leg was broken. Balthazar had achieved what he wanted to.

Sonic knew he was defeated. Without his legs, he was nothing. Balthazar, however, did not want to finish him off just yet. She turned toward Zoran. Zoran glared at her coldly. Cream grabbed his hand wildly, but Zoran was walking toward his fate. He charged at her, but a fire from her pistol brought him to the ground. She laughed loudly.

Amazingly, Zoran stirred. "So, you're not dead yet. Sonic, listen up! After he's dead, you get to choose which of your friends dies first! It is you who will decide the order of their deaths."

"NEVER!" Sonic shouted, but he could not get up, but instead felt a terrible pain in his leg. He had forgotten it was broken. Balthazar laughed at him again.

"Think of it this way, Sonic. The end of Sonic and gang ends in my hands. I've eliminated one of you. Now it is time to eliminate the rest…"

"You shall do no more killing, Balthazar!"

Sonic, Zoran, Cosmo, Amy, Cream, Knuckles, and Shadow all turned toward the voice. Balthazar, stood, stunned.

"Who are you?" She asked. "Who are you to challenge me?"

The creature held up seven diamonds in his hands. They shined brightly, and in an instant, there was a blast of shining light. Sonic closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw that standing before Balthazar was a white, nine-tailed fox, wielding a lightning bolt in his hand. He was wearing a green robe, his face hooded. But it did not conceal the purity of his heart, nor the blue glow his eyes emitted.

Balthazar stood before this fox in fear. "Who are you?" She cried. "You're as white as a ghost. Perhaps you've already prepared for your own death?"

"Why would I prepare for my own death?" The fox replied. "I shall not be defeated by you today. You attempted to control nature and use it for evil. Mother Nature will send her fury on you for it."

Balthazar took a step back, and the fox, a step forward. "Cower, I see who you are now. You think you killed one of Sonic's gang. You did not. Did you not see that you could not force the lightning to kill? Lightning strikes only where it desires. By forcing it to strike someplace, you weaken it. Even if you did make it hit Sonic's friends, it would not have critically harmed him."

"I DID kill him!" Balthazar cried. "And if I didn't, which is highly unlikely, who did?"

"I did." The fox replied, a smile on his face. "I planned to kill him to stop you from ever being able to channel the storm with your powers."

Sonic looked at the fox with discontent, and with a little bit of hatred. "He was my friend!" Sonic shouted.

The fox smiled. His nine-tails spun around him wildly, lifting him up in the air. "He only had two tails. Now, I have nine. And nine," He said, turning to the lioness. "Is far better than one."

"I'm still flying high, Balthazar." The fox said, before two massive lightning bolts came into his hand. With his nine-tails, he flew up into the hand. "Too high for you to defeat!"

**A/N: The climax! Did you not see this coming? I sure didn't, and I'm the author! And yes, the white-fox is not lying about what he said…**

**Stay tuned, friends! You've only just tasted what the end will bring! Salvation, and… Retribution…**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

**9 Tails Are Better Than 1**

**A/N: Finally, chapter 15. After this, there is an epilogue, meaning this is the final chapter. I hope you haven't finished all your popcorn, because this is where everything must be resolved, this is where the Light and Nature take retribution on those who do injustice! Or perhaps this is the glorious day of darkness. Only time will tell. By the way, a Gammorean is a really ugly creature from Star Wars with a face of a pig. That will answer any questions about what the insult Cream made up.**

**And I'll be honest, Balthazar was what the original spelling was supposed to be, which is part of the reason why the name is now just that.**

"_I'm still flying high, Balthazar." _ The words rang fear into Balthazar's heart, happiness into Cosmo's heart, and hope into others.

The reader has (hopefully) inferred something that no else (save his wife) had yet figured out. The white fox was Miles. Yet in both happiness and disbelief, Cosmo did not shout this out. Besides, what if he said that he was not Miles? One should not get their hopes too high…

Yet Tails hopes were literally flying. He looked down ferociously at Balthazar. Tails did not want to kill him, nor would Mother Nature like it. But having two lightning bolts in his hand, Tails couldn't help but be tempted to throw them straight at the lioness.

Balthazar continuously stepped back. Tails purposely threw a lightning bolt a little to the side, on Balthazar's left side. She screeched, and quivered in even greater fear. "It's time you faced judgment, but today, you get off with a warning: Never, ever, attempt to control nature again."

Tails said it with such ferocity that it showed in his face, and finally Balthazar recognized him. Gasping, uncertain whether this was a terrifying nightmare, or whether she was simply insane, she began to turn around and run. Tails let the second one loose, once again, a purposeful miss. Put love into the hearts of your friends, but your enemies, ah, now, they fear you.

Tails watched Balthazar run off, and he knew that she would never try to take control of the storm again. He looked toward his friends. Sonic still had not recognized him, despite the few slip ups he had done. It was pretty fun saying he had killed "him."

Sonic looked toward him, and then he lowered his head in shame. "You've done what I could not. I do not think I'm even worthy of calling myself a hero anymore."

Tails shook his head. "On the contrary. Never had I ever met a better hero to follow. I only did my role as a sidekick, Sonic."

Then Sonic finally looked at that familiar face, and recognized his friend, and one by one, so did his friends, mostly from the gasp on Sonic's face. Except for Knuckles, as for he did not understand why everyone was surprised, and Cosmo as well, as for she had longed figured it out, smiling at the moment.

There was a collection of cheers, and Sonic would have run to hug him, but his leg was broken. Looking around him, Tails found that this was a terrible time to celebrate. He quickly unlocked the cages of each of his friends, who each hugged him in turn, except for Knuckles, not understanding the situation. Cosmo gave him an extra kiss.

Then, Cream reminded them of something they had momentarily forgotten, and when she gasped, Tails turned around, and saw his cousin, with his eyes closed, on the ground, with a lot of blood around him. Cream pressed near him, checking to see if he was breathing, if his heart was beating, if he was still alive…

Cream was in distress. They all looked around them. Sonic needed his leg mended, and Zoran was bleeding to death. Tails quickly analyzed the situation. Obviously Zoran needed the most immediate care. He turned to the rest of the group. "Shadow, go the hospital, grab ambulance to pick up Amy while she's taking care of Zoran." He devised. Shadow was the fasted of them there. Tails thought for a moment longer. "No, I'll fly Zoran to the hospital, but still do pick up Amy and Sonic, Shadow." He corrected himself.

Shadow nodded, and a second later was out of sight. Amy looked exasperatedly at Zoran's wounds. "There's not much more I can do until Shadow gets back." She said, shaking her head sadly.

Tails turned to Amy. "Then it's time I fly him to the hospital." Cream no longer dared to look at Zoran.

"Do you think he'll live, Tails?" She asked him.

Tails did not ponder for long. "The chances of him living are divided in half every minute." He replied honestly. She began to cry, as Amy began to soothe her. He quickly picked up from the Zoran, positioned him so he could carry him in his arms easily, and began to fly toward the hospital.

The flight was highly perilous for Zoran. Tails did not want to make anything worse. But it was really his own confidence that Tails worried about. He flew faster and faster, and his speed was amazing with his nine tails, nearing Mach 2. (Which is approximately twice as fast as the speed of sound.)

Yet every thirty seconds that went, Tails felt his heart becoming more and more faint…

(Back to Sonic.)

Sonic smiled as Amy put a temporary cast on his leg. She had ripped a part of her dress to make it, and Sonic felt sorry that she had to rip the clothing she really valued. "You could have waited to put on a real cast." He told her sympathetically. Amy smiled.

"I love you too much to think sensibly." Amy replied, both honestly and modestly. Sonic took her hand, and she smiled when he did so.

Their brief moment was interrupted by Knuckles, who had finally got tired of saying nothing. "Is Balthazar really finished?" He asked. Sonic smiled in answer. "Perhaps he was intimidated by my fists. If Eggman hadn't captured me, I could have taken her one on one. She wouldn't have stood a chance."

Sonic laughed. The victory was grand, but Cream's tears reminded them that victory never came without a price. He had learned that, mastered that. It had not come without a price when they defeated the Meterax, nor any other time great evil was faced. That was perhaps the only thing great evil accomplished, continuing the spread of sorrow.

Amy had already tried to soothe Cream, but there was only one thing that could heal Cream right now. And it was not just time, but speed…

As Tails neared the hospital window, he felt Zoran's heart begin to give away. "Come on Zoran, don't slip away yet!" He cried desperately. What use was that, in urging one that is about to die to live? It is none at all…

Shadow had arrived at last. "Quickly now!" He called to them. Cream was already in the ambulance in a second, but Amy was slowed down by Sonic's broken leg. Sonic sighed. "It's going to be miserable with a broken leg. If I see Balthazar, I'll probably break those annoying arms of hers when I get the chance." Amy smiled as they began to drive to the hospital as fast as they could…

But Zoran's nearly lifeless body did not know that help was on the way. How was it supposed to all of a sudden hear the pleads they cried, and answer them? Tails set him down on the hospital bed, begging that it would just be a hospital bed, and not a death bed.

His pulse was an amazing 10 bpm. Tails found it miraculous that he was still alive. But he knew that if Amy did not enter through the door in the next minute, Zoran was sure to be a dead fox…

They quickly parked near the ER doors, and Cream was already out and running. Tails had seen them drive up, and cued to them where he was. Amy placed Sonic in a wheel chair, and quickly moved into the hospital. Shadow smirked at the scene, but did not comment. Now was not the time for any kind of joke.

When Amy got in the room, she had already known that misfortune would hit. She opened the door, moving from the wheelchair to Zoran, and checked his pulse, his breathing, and did everything she could to keep the heart going. She knew she had only twelve more seconds before he was dead. She panicked, she didn't know what to do.

When she looked at the heart rate monitor, it was showing that there was no longer a pulse. Zoran was… gone. Cream began to cry in Amy's shoulders, Sonic looked upon the scene in shock, and Tails lowered his head, ashamed of his failure, toying with the seven diamonds that Mother Nature gave him. The diamonds, he knew, could not bring back the dead. Not even the chaos emeralds. Their only hope was technology, and it failed. Tails untranformed from his nine-tailed form, and back into

"Why is everyone so downcast?" Said a voice. Tails turned around. It was Rouge, with her robotic arm looking as real as possible. She looked upon the scene with sorrow.

Shadow entered the room, looking down upon the fox that saved his life days before. Knuckles stood in the doorway, silent as a lamb. Cosmo had tears going down through her eyes, having now entered the room, moving toward Tails. Cream continued to cry, remembering the good times they had together.

Tails looked up, and saw something that made him start. Zoran's eyes were open staring at the ceiling. His arm was moving as slow as molasses, but it was moving. Amazingly, his heart rate began to rise to a normal level. He yawned, turned his head, and fell asleep.

Tails was wondering if he had gone mad. Cream did not know where to look. He was breathing, and his heart was breathing. "He's alive?" Sonic asked disbelivingly. "Or was he asleep the entire time?"

Tails laughed. He was alive, but Tails was quite sure he was not asleep before his pulse was lost. What had happened?

Then Cream began to bounce around the entire room, shouting: "He's alive, he's alive!" laughing in glee. Shadow couldn't help, and started laughing hard. Cream's behavior was quite hilarious.

"Hey, keep it down, will you? I'm trying to sleep." Zoran said to them. This caused them all to stare at them. Cream ran and took his hands, which made him smile.

"But you were just dead!" Amy cried, in confusion.

Zoran reopened his eyes, smiling at them, the wounds of the battle prior almost not visible. "I would have been dead if my wounds had been any worse, or if Balthazar had finished me at the battle, but nothing worse came to me." He said. "You are forgetting, I am not only a Prower, but a Zoran Prower. Each Prower possesses at least one unique ability. For Tails, this was extreme intelligence and flight, for me, it is stealth and extremely quick regeneration. I've always loved the stealth part more than the regeneration, I never figured I'd be close enough to death to worry about the regeneration."

Knuckles gaped. "So you're… immortal."

"No, no, no." Zoran shook his head. "I can die normally, that's for sure. And I can be killed, but it is not easy, because I began to regenerate immediately, and dire wounds can be healed in what would normally take days in hours, what would take hours, minutes.

Cream smiled happily at him, but Sonic still wanted to clear up a few things. "Maybe you two are immortal." Sonic said half-seriously. "You were nearly dead, too, Tails."

Tails nodded. "While I was in my lab, I saw the high concentration of positive and negative particles near the building Balthazar was at. That is how I knew where she was at, and that is how I figured out how to stop her. If I was to obtain those particles, and become a lightning rod, not only would I weaken the storm, I could stop Balthazar from ever being able to control it. Unfortunately, my life was in the bargain. I did not tell you Sonic, because I feared you would do it instead. I figured I was more expendable." Tails noticed that Sonic had not seen the diamonds.

"Nay, Tails, you are far more valuable than any of us." There was a murmur of agreement, save from Shadow and Rouge, as for Shadow thought he was the most powerful thing on earth, and Rouge put too much value on jewels.

They looked outside. There were no longer any storm clouds. There was now sun. A new day was coming. Sonic looked at his leg and sighed, and Tails smiled sympathetically at him.

"So, what's next?" Rouge asked. "Is it all over?"

Tails laughed. "It's over. I thought the storm would be dangerous, but the real storm was Balthazar herself."

"What do we do now?" Cosmo asked.

"There's a lot of things to do." Tails replied. "We need to help get he city back in shape, there will probably be a few thieves about, running around before everyone returns, heroes stuff to do. And when we're done," He directed his next words toward his wife. "We have a lot of preparing to do."

Zoran looked at them all. "So, can I get something to eat?" He asked them all. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm really, really, hungry. And I'm not eating any hospital food, nor am I staying in this bed. I think I'm going to get some real food out there…"

But only Cream was listening to him now. Everyone else was staring outside, as the sunrise marked a new transition in their lives…

**A/N: There is an Epilogue next. There are a few things I'd like to resolve before I end the story, and that is what the Epilogue will contain. There is also a sequel that will come, and it is called Balthazar's Storm II: Hebrides. There is a song called The Hebrides, a beautiful song from the Romantic Era made by a composer named Felix (Which means "lucky). Perhaps one day you will listen to it… **


	16. Epilogue

Epilogue:

14 months later

A/N: This is, alas, the last chapter in Balthazar's Storm. (Though as stated earlier, there is a sequel, don't worry. Unfortunately, the sequel is really dark at times... but I shall reveal no more now…)

So, where shall we begin? Alongside the Protagonist, I think…

(14 months later, outside Tail's house…)

Tails was getting into his brand new hover car, which he had proven to be both faster and tougher than a normal car. He smiled proudly at his invention as he held his four month old daughter, Violet, in his hands. Her skin was a yellow-orange, a bit lighter than his, and she had violets growing near her ears, which inspired her Tails to give her the name. Her eyes were just like Cosmo's, and so was her smile. Despite this, were it not for the fact that there were irremovable flowers on her head, she liked much like a fox. Though Tails did have to admit, when he looked into her eyes he swore he saw the entire galaxy in them.

"Goss, I'm running late." He said as he glanced at his watch, before turning on the engine, and driving to his destination.

When he stopped at a stoplight, he noticed Sonic walking on the sidewalk. Sonic noticed him, and in an instant he was right next to his best friend.

He smiled at his best friend. "Want to race?" He asked him amusingly. "Me vs. your super car."

Tails laughed. "Another time, Sonic. Violet's in the car." Sonic looked at the baby.

"Goss Tails, I don't know how many times I've said this, but her eyes are strange!" He said. "It's like staring at the stars." They laughed. "Where are you going, Tails?" He asked him. "Wait, I know where you're going. You're running late, aren't you?" Tails nodded. The light had turned green.

"Go at Sonic Speed, buddy!" He said, before racing toward the jewelry store. Tails never thought he'd ever see him glance at any jewel beside a chaos emerald. But today Tails was quite certain of what Sonic was looking for, a diamond ring, probably one he'd have Zoran enchant, before he gave it to Amy, if Amy took it. The idea of her not taking it was almost as likely as her killing herself.

He smiled as he continued driving to his destination. When he turned the next block, he saw Zoran and Cream speaking to each other in front of a restaurant. Cream was holding his hand, laughing at a comment he made. Then he saw Shadow come toward him and say something to him, and then they both ran off in a direction, leaving Cream by herself.

"Zoran! We're about to eat! Do you have to respond to every call of justice?" Tails laughed, and waved to her. She waved back, before resuming her negative look. Zoran and Cream had been married for almost a year now. It was a romantic day, but it was quite funny when Zoran came to the wedding dressed as royally as the title of prince that he rarely used in front of his name. Knuckles had to stifle his laughter for the entire time. Fortunately, Cream both loved and was amused by this appearance.. Tails thought that it was the silliest thing his cousin had ever done. "I'm of nobility. What can I say?" Zoran told him when he asked why he dressed so ridiculously. "I'm wondering why you don't do the same. You were really the next to the throne, until everything happened, that is. (Another story for another time, if you're wondering what he's talking about. It is far too long to place here; in fact, it would likely quadruple the stories length.)

Now though, Zoran and Shadow often played the role of hero, but Sonic no longer joined them. "I'm tired of running." Sonic told Tails when he asked him about this. "It's time that I retired and just settled down." Tails respected his decision. With Eggman gone, what was there to do, anyway? They now had a happy, normal, life.

Knuckles meanwhile, was spending time trying to find the seven chaos emeralds again. Rouge, was on some "government mission", but Tails knew that she was very likely following Knuckles to get her hands on the emeralds. It couldn't have been any more obvious to him.

But there was one person's fate he was concerned about… and that was Balthazar…

(Elsewhere)

Balthazar looked upon the ruined building. He had nothing now, nothing but this old building to begin with. The Prowers had taken everything from him. He looked backward to his minions. "It would be best if you began the work now. There a lot to do." His minions obeyed without hesitation. After all, wasn't there a better leader than one that lead with fear. Fear was the weapon that Balthazar had now mastered.

He had pondered his defeat for days. He was stronger than the group that had challenged his power, yet he lost because he was alone, and he had underestimated them. But this time, he had quantity and quality, and he would make sure that they paid.

Unfortunately, it would not be today, but Balthazar knew it would be one day soon. No matter how many years it took, Balthazar knew the longer he awaited, the easier it would be for victory…

(In room 220, at Diasukinahito High School. Excuse the long Japanese word, but one of it's possible meanings is beloved, if you're wondering.

"Alright class, I hope you're all you've done your Advanced Placement (AP) Biology homework." The teacher said to the class. "As I collect it, I will be placing quizzes on the desk. You may begin as soon as you get the quiz. Don't forget, we're having a few special scientists come visit today!"

The teacher went around the room, collecting the homework. One student raised her hand. "Yes, Sarah?" The teacher already sighed.

"Mrs. Prower, my Venus Fly-Trap ate my homework. It was a terrible sight to behold!" Sarah cried. The rest of the class laughed.

"I'm sorry Sarah, but since you did the homework, I expect that you can tell me the four different ways we classify plants in the Plantae Kingdom. Or perhaps you can tell me what ATP stands for? Both questions were one the homework."

Sarah shook your head. "I don't remember those questions."

"And I don't remember you having a Venus fly-trap, nor remembering the plant ever having a taste for paper." Cosmo Prower wrote down a zero for Sarah. She walked to her desk. "And Sarah Gryphon, stop texting on your cell phone under the desk." She said, though Sarah had just pulled it out. Sarah was stunned at Cosmo's perception. "Also, I wouldn't put those headphones on, nor take out anything that would help you cheat on the test."

Sarah muttered to her neighbor. "She is psychic!"

About twenty minutes later, everyone had finished their quizzes. Just as Cosmo finished collecting them, two male groundhogs and one female panther entered the room. Cosmo smiled when they entered.

"Class, this is Dr. Mendel, Chief of the Medical Staff." She said. Dr. Mendel bowed as the class clapped.

"How long have you worked with medical-science, Dr. Mendel?" Cosmo asked him.

"35 years. This is my last. After this year, I'm handing my position to Dr. Rose, who is also a magnificent doctor." He said. "But don't tell her yet." He whispered to Cosmo, so no one else could hear.

"Dr. Mendel will talk to those interested more about his field. But let me introduce the person next to him, Mrs. Shelly Norton, a scientist who works with Physics."

Mrs. Shelly Norton smiled. "I'm relatively new to the field, but I'll answer any questions you have.

"And this man.," She continued. "Is Mr. James Norris, a Biologist who specializes in studying fungi and animals.

James Norris waved to them timidly. " Nice to meet you all." James Norris looked as if he was afraid of his own shadow.

"Now, in a moment you will each split up in groups with each of these scientists and…"

The door opened, and the last scientist entered. Cosmo could tell that the scientist was running. He was carrying a baby in his arms, which the class awed. "Who is this, Mrs. Prower?" Sarah asked her.

Cosmo smiled. "Why, this is Mr. Miles Prower. I know him quite well, as you can see." She took her daughter in his arms, and they smiled at each other.

"I invented the hovering car, if your wondering who designed those cars." Tails informed them, earning himself shocked and interested looks from the class.

"But more importantly," His wife added, smiling. "He saved the city." Tails blushed, turning away, looking out of the window. He thought he saw Mother Nature looking back at him, before in another second, she disappeared. Tails was still her loyal servant, but she rarely appeared even to him. He knew why: She had the entire world to watch over, day and night.

Tails was happy and thankful for his life, even if he was stuck with a lightning shaped scar on his chest, which he had noticed the day after Balthazar's defeat. It was golden, and "beautiful," or that was what Cosmo said. Tails found it odd that the very thing he feared was imprinted on his chest, and odder that he could use lightning bolts when he used the seven diamonds.

Tails was glad that he had both escaped death and conquered his fear of lightning and thunder, and gladder that the scar wasn't on his forehead, or he'd probably be getting headaches. He nearly laughed at his own joke, and as he looked down at his daughter and her cosmic eyes: He knew one thing and that was this: All was well.

**A/N: Thus end's Balthazar's Storm. Stay tuned for Balthazar's Storm II: Hebrides, and live the next volume of the Balthazar series.**

**Stay tuned for my other new stories that are coming out, one involving a fighting tournament, which will be an interesting read, a SonAmy romance/tragedy (which probably make me cry when I write it), and the last a Tails Epic, which will be an extremely long story telling Tails life from beginning to end.**

**Don't forget to read my current stories also, and most of all, don't forget to write yourselves! I'd love to read all your stories sometime!**


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